Perth’s winter storms have a way of turning a much-loved backyard tree into an urgent problem overnight. One night of strong winds can split a trunk, tear off a major limb, or bring a whole tree down across a fence, a roof or a driveway. When that happens, panic is a natural reaction, but a calm, informed response keeps everyone safe and gets the situation under control faster. This guide walks you through exactly what to do the moment a tree becomes unsafe.
An emergency tree situation is not the time to improvise with a chainsaw. If you are staring at a fallen or dangerously leaning tree right now, the safest first move is to keep people away from it and call a qualified, insured arborist. Read the safety steps below first.
Step one: protect people before property
The instinct to rush over and assess the damage is understandable, but a partially fallen tree is unpredictable. A trunk that appears wedged in place can be under enormous tension, and a hanging limb can drop without warning. Keep family, pets and onlookers well back, and resist the urge to stand underneath to take a closer look. Property can be repaired; people cannot.
If children or elderly family members are nearby, move them indoors and away from windows facing the tree. If a vehicle can be moved out of range safely, do so, but never put yourself between the tree and the car to do it.
Step two: treat every power line as live
If the tree has fallen onto power lines, is leaning on them, or has brought wires down to the ground, the situation becomes life-threatening. Assume every wire is live, stay well clear, keep everyone else back, and call your electricity network provider and emergency services immediately. Water, wet ground and metal fences can all conduct electricity, so the danger zone extends further than the wires themselves.
Clearing trees safely away from power lines is specialised work with its own rules about who is responsible, and it is never a job for a homeowner to attempt. Our team handles this kind of work regularly and coordinates with the network provider where needed, so the safest thing you can do is keep your distance and let professionals manage it.
Step three: work out whether it is a true emergency
Not every storm-damaged tree needs an immediate after-hours call-out, but some genuinely cannot wait until morning. Treat the situation as urgent if any of the following apply:
- A tree or large branch has fallen onto a house, car, shed or fence.
- A tree is leaning noticeably more than it was, or the soil around the base has heaved or cracked.
- A major limb is split, cracked or hanging and could fall at any moment.
- A trunk has split, or you can hear ongoing creaking and movement.
- The tree is touching or has brought down power lines.
If none of those apply and the tree is simply dropping small branches or leaves, it can usually wait for a scheduled visit. When you are genuinely unsure whether a tree has crossed from concerning into dangerous, it helps to know the warning signs that tell you a tree needs professional attention, and it is always better to have someone qualified take a look than to guess.
Why DIY emergency removal is so risky
It is tempting to deal with a fallen tree yourself, especially when you are worried about further damage to your home. This is one of the most dangerous decisions a homeowner can make. Fallen and partly fallen trees are full of stored energy: sections under compression and tension can spring, roll or drop with lethal force the instant a cut releases them. Add wet conditions, unstable footing, ladders and overhead hazards, and the risk multiplies quickly.
Trained arborists read these forces before they cut. They use ropes and rigging to control how each section comes down, and they carry insurance that protects you if anything goes wrong. The modest cost of a professional call-out is nothing compared with the cost of a serious injury or a second round of property damage.
How professional emergency removal works
When you call a professional emergency service, the first step is a rapid hazard assessment. The arborist identifies what is holding the tree up, where the tension lies, and what is at risk if it moves. From there they build a safe plan to dismantle the tree in a controlled sequence rather than simply felling it and hoping.
Rather than dropping the whole tree at once, the crew usually takes it down in sections, lowering each piece under control so a heavy limb never swings into a wall or drops onto a roof. For trees that have landed on a structure or are too large and unstable to fell conventionally, a crane can lift heavy sections cleanly away from the building, while an elevated work platform gives safe access to work at height. Very large specimens fall under specialist large tree removal, which needs the right gear and experienced operators.
Once the tree is safely down, a good crew clears the debris and leaves the site secure, which matters enormously when you are already dealing with storm damage elsewhere on the property. Dealing with the leftover stump can then be scheduled as a follow-up rather than rushed on the night, and grinding it out later restores the area cleanly.
The best emergency is the one that never happens
Many emergency call-outs trace back to a tree that was already showing warning signs long before the storm arrived: deadwood, fungal growth, a lean that slowly worsened, or dieback in the canopy. Trees that are quietly declining are far more likely to fail under wind load, so learning to spot the early signs that a tree is struggling and getting it assessed can prevent a crisis entirely. A sensible pre-winter inspection and some preventative pruning are the single most effective way to keep your trees standing through Perth’s storm season.
Need urgent help with a tree in Perth?
AB Trees is a fully qualified and insured team based in Spearwood, servicing the Perth metropolitan area. If a tree has fallen or become dangerous, get in touch with us and we will make the situation safe and clear the site properly. If your tree is still standing but worrying you, our tree removal service can assess it before it becomes an emergency.
